Thursday, August 05, 2010

Tutankhamun chariots are engineering marvels

Discovery News (Rossella Lorenzi)

With slideshow.

King Tutankhamun, the pharaoh who ruled Egypt more than 3,300 years ago, rode full speed over the desert dunes on a Formula One-like chariot, according to new investigations into the technical features of the boy king's vehicle collection.

Discovered in pieces by British archaeologist Howard Carter when he entered King Tut's treasure-packed tomb in 1922, the collection consisted of two large ceremonial chariots, a smaller highly decorated one, and three others that were lighter and made for daily use.

"They were the Ferrari of antiquity. They boasted an elegant design and an extremely sophisticated and astonishingly modern technology," Alberto Rovetta, professor in robotics engineering at the Polytechnic of Milan, told Discovery News.

Of the six chariots, one made its longest ride yet last week when it traveled outside Egypt for the first time in three millennia to the "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" exhibit in New York's Discovery Times Square Exposition.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Shucks! Wish they had it in Chicago a few years ago when we went. However, I did so enjoy seeing his things. One of my granddaughter's friends went with us and she went to tell my daughter that "Granny is crying." Cindy understood and told her that it was just because I was seeing things I've always wanted to see. Probably would have cried again with the chariots. Alice